Last night Clarissa was up almost the entire night (falling asleep around 5am) moaning from the pain of a double ear infection. Abe and I felt so sorry for her that we let her in our bed. She writhed for hours and we felt awful for her pain. Eventually she got really hot sandwiched between us so she moved to the day bed. After she got settled there she went right to sleep.
I called the after hours care for her pediatrician’s office and took her in at 11am to get checked out. The nurse confirmed the double ear infection and said she might have a touch of strep too. While we were there Clarissa started heaving to throw up and only got out blood and mucus, which was sad. A sweet part of the visit though for me was just watching Clarissa, who manages to be cute even when she is miserable.
She sat there somberly with her hands around her pulled-up knees, and when I stroked her nose with my finger (like the bedtime scene in Frozen 2) she gave cute little smiles.
There is so much sickness going around that the only store with children’s amoxicillin within twenty minutes is the BYU CVS!
After I dropped Clarissa at the house I went to get her prescription. I got some coffee afterwards because I hardly slept last night and the night before that got only four and a half hours. I asked the guy who handed me my coffee why the BYU Starbucks was so busy, especially on a Sunday. He must have thought I had no knowledge of Mormons because he explained it was all just a matter of how you were raised and that even though he himself was a BYU student he had been drinking coffee with his family since high school. He said even though the stores sells a lot of non-caffeinated drinks it also sells a ton of coffee to BYU students like himself. So interesting. I honestly did not know many (any?) Mormons who drank coffee in college. Honestly, I had almost 70 LDS roommates in my twenties and none of them ever had a sip of coffee that I knew of. Maybe the culture is changing?
Then I went to Trader Joe’s, came home and cleaned, got a massage from Abe, made a salad to accompany our dinner of rice and salmon spirals, and watched Elf with the kids. I lovelovelove being cozy on the couch with my family in the middle of all my Christmas decor watching Christmas movies. The kids are such wonderful ages and it is so fun when something funny happens and everyone starts laughing hysterically. The best part of the movie (gauging from the level of familial laughter) was when Elf started throwing snowballs in Central Park. Ammon and Clarissa were both snorting and out of breath, and the older girls were also laughing hard.
Before Elf Lydia and Mary both got an hour of practice, Clarissa slept most of the day on various couches, and Ammon learned how to felt from his sisters. Abe took Basil on a long run, cleaned out our fridges (THANK YOU, ABE!!!), and helped me tidy the house. He also grilled the salmon and helped clean up. He is such an amazing partner.
Also, funny story:
Clarissa was asleep for long stretches on the couch. During an early stretch Abe told the older girls that they had to practice the minute she woke up, and additionally they could be in charge of ensuring the house remained quiet for as long as possible so Clarissa could sleep.
Both girls took that job very seriously and ferociously guarded the silence. The knew they would have to practice when she woke up and they did not want that time to come. At one point Ammon started making noise and then came to Abe crying.
“Dad,” he sobbed, “I made noise and Lydia told me to shut up and Mary called me a hot dog!”
Abe and I thought that was the funniest insult, even though Abe did go and correct both girls. But if someone has to call me a name, I hope they take a note from Mary next time and try “hot dog.” I love it!
I loved this day.